The present invention relates to a flexural exercise device which permits a user of the device to properly perform a butterfly press-type exercise therewith.
A variety of flexural exercise devices have been proposed which comprise an elongated apparatus with handle portions disposed on opposite ends thereof and a flexural middle portion therebetween. The handle portions of the apparatus can be grasped by each of the hands of a user, and the handle portions can be flexed with respect to the flexural middle portion against a flexural resistance generated by the flexural middle portion of the apparatus. A variety of exercises can be performed by such prior art flexural exercise devices by flexing one or both handle portions with respect to the flexural middle portion while holding the device in a variety of orientations.
A popular upper body exercise, which isolates certain muscles of the chest and particularly the pectoral muscles, is typically referred to as the upright butterfly press. In its proper form, the upright butterfly press is performed using a specialized butterfly press machine by an exerciser standing or sitting with a generally upright posture. The exerciser extends his arms out to his sides, bent upwardly at the elbows with the exerciser's hands extending generally above the exerciser's shoulders so that the forearms are oriented generally vertically and the upper arms are in a generally horizontal orientation. The hands and forearms are pressed against arm-engaging portions of two mechanisms of the butterfly machine that move in arcuate paths against a resistance as the exerciser's arms are brought together in front of the exerciser and then brought back to the sides of the exerciser, while maintaining the forearms in the generally vertical orientation and the upper arms in the generally horizontal orientation, to effect one repetition of the exercise.
Many prior art flexural exercise apparatuses permit a user to place the apparatus behind the user's neck with the handle portions of the unflexed apparatus extending to both sides of the user's head at about shoulder level. The user can grasp the handles with the user's arms extending sideways and flex the handles forwardly to a position in front of the user to approximate a butterfly press exercise.
Prior art flexural exercise devices do not, however, provide handle structures which permit a user to properly perform a butterfly exercise. That is, the handle structures of the prior art flexural exercise devices do not provide structures which can be grasped by a user's arms extending out to the user's sides and bent upwardly at the elbows with the user's hands extending above the user's shoulders so that the user's upper arms are in a generally horizontal orientation. Accordingly, prior art flexural exercise devices do not permit a user to perform a proper upright butterfly press, and thus, an exerciser needs a specialized butterfly press machine in order to perform a proper butterfly press exercise.